A £50.5 million payout by Trinity Mirror for Hotgroup has finally capped a summer of hot and heavy courtship of the acquisition-happy recruitment company.

The deal, announced last week, offers 20.25 pence per share in Hotgroup, for its on- and offline recruitment enterprises. Hotgroup now joins Smartnewhomes.com, Fish4.co.uk and GAAPweb.com in Trinity Mirror’s growing cluster of digital operations. The acquisition of Hotgroup’s recruitment consultancies marks Trinity Mirror’s first step into traditional recruiting.

Hotgroup founder Harvey Sinclair (pictured), who manages the online division, and Chris Herrmannsen, managing director of the recruitment consultancy, will stay with the firm as it will be run as a separate company within Trinity Mirror. Chairman Tony Reeves will stay on during the company’s integration into the Trinity Mirror Group.

Sinclair previously told Recruiter that the company had not been put up for sale, but that its online presence made it attractive to media players as revenues from traditional print advertising fall.

The share price offered by Trinity Mirror represents a premium of 72.3% over Hotgroup’s closing price on 21 June of 11.75 pence.